Containers and closure caps therefor



g- 1967 c. P. GRIMM ETAL 3,334,763

CONTAINERS AND CLOSURE CAPS THEREFOR Filed Jan. 14, 1966 INVENTOR CARLPETER GRIMM THOMAS GRAHAM GERDING ATTORNEY United States Patent3,334,763 CONTAINERS AND CLOSURE CAPS THEREFOR Carl Peter Grimm, Darien,and Thomas Graham Gerding, Greenwich, Conn., assignors to Sterling DrugInc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 14, 1966,Ser. No. 536,239 Claims. (Cl. 215-9) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A safetycap and bottle construction for preventing children from opening thesame, there being an annular groove in the neck of the bottle spacedfrom the mouth, with an annular abutment on the neck of the containeradjacent the groove with a flat or reduced area in the abutment, with asnap-on closure cap including a depending skirt and an inwardly directedrib at the edge of the skirt, a small portion of the circumference ofthe cap at the exterior thereof extending slightly outwardly therefromto form a fingerpiece, the rib on the cap having a gap in the same areaas the fingerpiece, the inwardly directed rib on the cap having aninternal diameter less than the diameter of a portion of the neck of thebottle between the rib and the mouth, except at the gap.

This invention relates to a new and improved safety closure capparticularly for medicament containers, and the principal object of theinvention resides in a construction tending to prevent the removal ofthe cap at least insofar as relatively small children are concerned, sothat the cap is difiicult if not impossible for small children toremove, but does not present a problem for adults.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a container to which the cap is applied;

FIG. 2 is a view in front elevation thereof with the cap 1n section;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the cap on an enlarged scale, part being insection;

FIG. 4 is a section on line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view thereof, looking in the direction of arrow5 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a modified container neck, and

FIG. 7 is a view in elevation thereof, looking in the direction of arrow7 in FIG. 6.

In order to illustrate the invention, the new safety cap is shown asapplied to a bottle 10. This bottle is provided with a diametricallyreduced neck 12 which extends upwardly from the body portion and definesthe more or less usual mouth or rim at 14.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a substantial upperportion of the neck diminishes in diameter in an outward, upwarddirection as is clearly shown in FIG. 2 and indicated at 16. This is forthe purpose of facilitating the application of the closure cap 18thereto as will become apparent hereinafter. At the base of the taperedportion 16 of the neck of the container, there is an inwardly directedannular groove 19 which is continuous all about the neck of the bottle.Below this groove there is an outwardly extending annular abutment 20which however has a flattened portion at 22 as seen in FIG. 1 so thatthe abutment 20 is not completely continuous about the container. It isof course clear that the diametrically opposed side of the abutment 20could also be flat if this should be desired.

The closure cap 18 is preferably made of a relatively high impactpolyethylene or similar thermoplasticmaterial and the reason for this isthat if plastic of stretchable type is used, the cap soon becomesdistorted and useless after continued use thereof. In any event, thematerial of the cap is relatively hard, and although it can bend, itdoes not do so easily.

The cap 18 includes a top 24 and a depending annular skirt 26 which maybe of any cross sectional shape desired or convenient but in any eventit terminates at its lower margin in an inwardly directed rib or rim 28.The rib or rim 28 is generally annular but as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5this rim is not continuous but has a definite gap in an area at 30 andin the area of the gap at 30 there is an outwardly extended or thickenedarea 32 which acts as a thumb or fingerpiece.

The cap is easily snapped down upon the tapered portion 16 of the neckof the bottle and the rib 28 will come to rest on the abutment 20 withthe rib.28 snapped into the channel at 19. The internal diameter of therib or rim 28 is less than the maximum diameter of the tapered portion16 of the bottle cap so that this operation willbe seen to place the capon the neck of the bottle and hold the same firmly in position.

The cap can now be rotated on the portion 16 of the neck of the bottleand of course ordinarily if no care is taken in applying the cap exceptto see that the rim 28 seats in the groove, the cap 30 in the rim 28will ordinarily not coincide with the flat portion 22 on the abutment20. A slight twist of the cap with relation to the neck of the bottlehowever will serve to misalign these areas and conversely when it isdesired to open the bottle it is merely necessary to turn the cap on theneck to align the gap 30 with the flattened area 22.

The efiect of this construction is that it is almost impossible toremove the cap from the bottle in the event that the gap 30 ismisaligned with respect to flat portion 22, see FIG. 1, because thethumb or finger is unable to contact the thickened portion 32 with anyappreciable effect because of the extent of the rim or abutment 20.However with the gap 30 in alignment with the flat portion 22, the thumbcan be inserted to a degree required under the thickened portion 32 andan upward press will serve to very slightly bend the cap sufliciently topop the rim 28 out of its groove 18, startingv at the ends of the gap,see 34, 34, and therefore remove the cap from the bottle.

If the cap were made of a soft material, it would be more easilyremovable even though gap 30 is not aligned with flap 32; but with thehigh impact material referred to used or some similar relatively stiffmaterial, it is almost impossible to remove the cap except under thecondition stated. However under such conditions, the high impactmaterial can be bent to a slight degree sufiicient in order to removethe cap and at the same time the material of the cap does not thenbecome distorted due to constant use.

As a modification, the cap may be unaltered and retain the full 365 rimor rib, rather than having the gap 30, if the neck of the bottle in theconvergent area 36, equivalent to that at 12 in FIG. 2, be provided witha flat 38, at a point other than flat 40, in abutment 42, equivalent toabutment 20 previously described. Such bottle neck flat can be locatedat 180 to fiat 40, or even at as shown by dotted lines 44, or atvariations of such locations. The point here is that the cap fingerpiece32, if aligned with flat 40, can be used to snap off the cap, even ifthe rib of the cap be continuous, but only if the bottle r 3 neck has aflat such as at 38, removed from the area of the flat 40, or 22.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we donot wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise thanas set forth in the claims, but what we claim is:

1. The combination of a bottel having a neck, a rim on the neck defininga mouth, and an annular groove in the neck spaced from the month, anoutwardly extending generally annular abutment on the neck of thecontainer adjacent the groove at the side thereof away from said mouth,said abutment having a diameter in general greater tahn the portion ofthe neck of the container between the groove and the mouth, and aflattened area in said abutment,

with a snap-on closure cap of relatively high impact thermoplasticmaterial, said cap having a solid top and -a depending skirt and aninwardly directed rib at the termination of the skirt, said rib beingspaced from said solid top, a small portion of the circumference of thecap at the exterior thereof extending slightly outwardly therefromforming a fingerpiece, said rib on said cap being provided with a gap inthe area of said fingerpiece,

wherein the inwardly directed ri on the cap in general has an internaldiameter less than the diameter of the portion of the neck of the bottlebetween the rib and the mouth thereof except at the gap.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the inwardly directed ribon the cap is substantially continuous with the exception of the gap.

3. The combination or a bottle having a neck, a rim on the neck defininga mouth, an-annul-ar groove about the neck spaced from the mouth, saidneck converging inwardly from the area of the groove toward the month,an outwardly extending abutment on the neck of the container adjacentthe groove at the side thereof away from 4 the month, said abutmenthaving a flattened area therein at a certain portion thereof,

with a snap-on closure cap of relatively high impact thermoplasticmaterial, said cap having a solid top 5 and a depending skirt and aninwardly directed n'b at the termination of the skirt, the rib beingspaced from the solid top, a small portion of the cap at thecircumference thereof extending slightly outwardly therefrom and forminga fingerpiece, said rib snapping into the groove when the cap is appliedto the bottle neck,

wherein the neck of the bottle in the convergent area thereof isprovided with a flat area at a portion on the circumference thereofrelatively remote from the flattened area of the abutment, said capbeing easily removable only when said fingerpiece is arranged inalignment with the flat on the abutment. 4. The combination as recitedin claim 3 wherein the flat on the convergent portion of the neck of thebottle is arranged approximately at 180 with respect to the flat on theabutment.

5. The combination of claim 3 wherein the flat on the convergent portionof the neck of the bottle is arranged approximately at 90 with respectto the flat on the abutment.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JOSEPH R. LECLA-IR, PrimaryExaminer.

DONALD F. NORTON, Examiner.

1. THE COMBINATION OF A BOTTLE HAVING A NECK, A RIM ON THE NECK DEFININGA MOUTH, AND AN ANNULAR GROOVE IN THE NECK SPACED FROM THE MOUTH, ANOUTWARDLY EXTENDING GENERALLY ANNULAR ABUTMENT ON THE NECK OF THECONTAINER ADJACENT THE GROOVE AT THE SIDE THEREOF AWAY FROM SAID MOUTH,SAID ABUTMENT HAVING A DIAMETER IN GENERAL GREATER THAN THE PORTION OFTHE NECK OF THE CONTAINER BETWEEN THE GROOVE AND THE MOUTH, AND AFLATTENED AREA IN SAID ABUTMENT, WITH A SNAP-ON CAP OF RELATIVELY HIGHIMPACT THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL, SAID CAP HAVING A SOLID TOP AND ADEPENDING SKIRT AND AN INWARDLY DIRECTED RIB AT THE TERMINATION OF THESKIRT, SAID RIB BEING SPACED ROM SAID SOLID TOP, A SMALL PORTION OF THECIRCUMFERENCE OF THE CAP AT THE EXTERIOR THEREOF EXTENDING SLIGHTLYOUTWARDLY THEREFROM FORMING A FINGERPIECE, SAID RIB ON SAID CAP BEINGPROVIDED WITH A GAP IN THE AREA OF SAID FINGERPIECE, WHEREIN THEINWARDLY DIRECTED RIB ON THE CAP IN GENERAL HAS AN INTERNAL DIAMETERLESS THAN THE DIAMETER OF THE PORTION OF THE NECK OF THE BOTTLE BETWEENTHE RIB AND THE MOUTH THEREOF EXCEPT AT THE GAP.